What government ruled Rome before the Roman Empire?
The Roman Republic was the government that came before the Roman Empire. Founded in 509 B.C., at the city of Rome (built in 753 B.C. on a hill above the Tiber River), the republic lasted until 27 B.C. when the Roman Empire was established. The republic was started by Roman noblemen who installed a government headed by two officials, called consuls, who were elected to one-year terms. The consuls were guided by the Roman senate, which was made up of senior statesmen. Although the Gauls (a Celtic people from Western Europe) overran Rome in 390 B.C., they did not control the city for long. By about 300 B.C., the Romans came into contact with the Greeks, adopting some of their ideas, including their mythology. Within twenty years, Rome controlled most of the Italian peninsula, and from 264 to 146 B.C. Romans fought the Punic Wars to gain territory….
